The Fall of the House of Usher (La Chute de la maison Usher). 1928. Directed by Jean Epstein.

(11/23/00)

I really didn't like this film very much. It had a lot of interesting images, but it just didn't involve me. Maybe seeing it in a preservation print had something to do with it. If I had seen it in a fresh, original print it might have had a drastically different effect.

The opening, when the mn comes to the inn an tries to get a carriage to take him to the Usher residence, is very reminiscent of the opening of Dracula.

All of those blowing curtains got to be a bit much. The slow motion effects were interesting to see at the time.

The best scene was when Roderick and his friend go to bury Madeleine. We see overhead shots of the sky and superimpositions of candles.

The actor who played Roderick didn't make a very good impression on me--but that might have just been the character he was playing.

There is a scene in which something appears to happen to Madeleine as Roderick is painting her portrait. That was confusing to me. The shots of Madeleine's portrait almost disembodied in blackness were interesting, but that was about it.

I also found the shots of books falling and a suit of armor falling--in slow motion--very interesting. And leaves blowing around the floor, all images of decay.

Perhaps if I saw this film a few more times it might appeal to me more. I am frustrated that I can't really appreciate it. I heard Stuart Oderman comment about what a wonderful film it is. Why can't I see what he sees?

I did read that thye atmosphere of Edgar Allan Poe is very difficult to transfer to the screen. Maybe that's part of the problem with this film--that it is really trying to put a literary quality onto the screen and it doesn't work. Maybe the atmophere of Poe is really subjective--each person creates it for himself.

I didn't like the shots of the house of Usher collapsing. That was just so obviously a miniature that I couldn't accept it.

A problem might have been that the atmosphere was allowed to run rampant and wasn't kept in its place. Or there wasn't a balance between atmosphere and plot.